❝spencer, all this week you've been holding my hands. what about your germ thing?❞
❝you were more important.❞
hazel finley is a liar. but she's a damn good one. and she's especially good at telling when other people are lying. she's the newest memb...
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❝Is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?❞
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
✩
4.1 : what we had to do
OR
season 5, episode 8 : outfoxed (ctd.)
IT'S SEVEN HOURS BY CAR FROM HAMPTON TO POUND, WHERE THE SUPERMAX PRISON IS, BUT ONLY AN HOUR AND A HALF BY PLANE. They take the jet, and Hotch spends the entire flight briefing Fin on every aspect of Karl Arnold's life and personality, so she knows him as well as any of the others.
"You should know that Karl has a big ego," Hotch says in the elevator down to the lowest level of the prison, speaking for the first time since getting off the plane. "He's going to want to answer every question with a question. He'll try to gain the advantage with me by asking why I'm not wearing my wedding ring." As they step out of the elevator and into the dark hallway, led by a burly guard, he looks down at her. "And then he'll turn his attention to you."
"Is that why you brought me along?" Fin asks, suddenly feeling self-conscious about the white top she chose to wear. It's nothing unusual; a tight-fitting, good quality long-sleeved top with a square neck that doesn't show too much, but now, knowing what she knows about Arnold, a sexually confident and motivated sadist, she wishes she'd worn a turtleneck.
"Your presence will throw him off guard," Hotch replies. He pauses, then says slowly, "Then he's gonna want to describe to you in graphic detail every sexual act he committed with the families."
Fin's stomach churns uncomfortably. They stop in front of a metal door with the guard. "Because he wants to make me uncomfortable?"
"Because he wants to pull you into his fantasy."
"Control, open on 16," says the guard into his walkie, and a buzzer sounds. The door unlocks and slides open.
As they walk through, Hotch stays behind Fin and mutters, "Keep your eyes forward."
The inmates on every side are shouting at her, jeering, ogling her, and Fin does as Hotch says–until one large man bangs on the window between them, shouting something indiscernible.
She flinches, unwillingly, and a hand presses against her back, steadying her. "More than anything, he'll want to see photos of the children," Hotch says quietly, keeping his hand on her back, holding her beside him. It's a signal to the men that she isn't to be messed with and a signal to Fin that she's safe with him. She appreciates both.
"We can't let him see them, right?" asks Fin uncertainly, focusing on the floor in front of her.
"We have to give him something or this whole trip will be worthless," Hotch replies grimly.
